Design history

The first drum kit tom-toms had no rims, the heads were tacked to the shell. Jazz drummers used the heat from a match and water (or whiskey depending on the venue) to tune them. The best were imported from China.

As major drum manufacturers began to offer tunable tom-toms with hoops and tuning lugs, a 12" drum 8" deep became standard, mounted on the left side of the bass drum. Later a 16" drum 16" deep mounted on three legs (a floor tom) was added. Finally, a second drum was mounted on the right of the bass drum, a 13" diameter drum 9" deep. Together with a 14" snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, these three made up the standard kit of five drums for most of the second half of the 20th century.

Later, the mounted tom-toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.

Modern tom toms

Today two "power" depth tom-toms of 12x10 (12" diameter by 10" depth) and 13x11 is the most common hanging tom configuration, and would be considered standard by most drummers. Also popular is the "fusion" configuration of 10x8 and either 12x8 or 12x9, and the again popular "classic" configuration of 12x8 and 13x9, which is still used by some jazz and retro drummers. However a wide variety of configurations are commonly available and in use, at all levels from advanced student kits upwards. A third hanging tom is often used instead of a floor tom.

Single-headed tom-toms

Single-headed tom-toms have also been used in drum kits, though their use has fallen off in popularity since the 1970s. Concert toms have a single head and a shell slightly shallower than the corresponding double-headed tom. Phil Collins still uses 4 singled headed rack mount toms and 2 floor toms (Gretsch) in his setup. He claims he tunes his toms to "bark" like a seal.

Rototoms

Rototoms have no shell at all, just a single head and a steel frame. Unlike other toms, roto toms have a definite pitch and some composers write for them as a tuned instrument, demanding specific notes. They can be tuned quickly by rotating the head. Since the head rotates on a thread, this raises or lowers the head relative to the rim of the drum and so increases or decreases the tension in the head.